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Pedro roughed up in rehab start

Pedro roughed up in rehab start

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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Pedro Martinez was hit hard Wednesday night in his first professional regular-season game since rotator cuff surgery last Oct. 5, but the Mets right-hander didn't seem concerned afterward.

"Results don't matter right now," Martinez said after giving up five runs and six hits, including two home runs, in pitching three innings for Class A Port St. Lucie against the Lakeland Flying Tigers at Tradition Field.

Expected to throw about 80 pitches, he wound up lasting 63 -- 44 of them for strikes. Then he went into the bullpen area behind Tradition Field and threw until he reached 80 for the night.

"My arm and my body are recovering good," Martinez said. "Making adjustments is going to take me a little while because I haven't pitched in so long."

Martinez was particularly concerned about his sinker. That was the pitch that led to both home runs, he said, and five of the hits.

"I was very stubborn in trying to establish it, establish it, and it didn't work out," he said. "I have something to work on now."

Otherwise, Martinez was pleased with his cut and four-seam fastballs and his curve. He struck out five and walked none.

"I've been away so long, I'm trying to think about so much: covering the bases and doing things I haven't been doing lately and I didn't get to do in Spring Training," he said.
"For me, it's a little weird to have to face those little things instead of just pitching."

Martinez gave up two hits in the first inning, and both balls were hit hard. Max Leon hit a one-out double off the right-field wall on one bounce, and Michael Hernandez lined a two-out single to left for a run.

Martinez threw 23 pitches in the inning, getting a strikeout for the final out.

Things didn't improve in the second, Martinez he gave up a towering home run to Justin Justice, and were really exacerbated in the third, when Eleazar Aponte led off with a homer. The Flying Tigers went on to score two more runs.

"I'm aware of what I did wrong, because I used to be able to pitch the right way," Martinez said. "It's unfair to expect me to be sharp in my first time out."

Martinez said he isn't sure when he'll next pitch. He did mention he hopes to take the mound in a game again in five days and hoped to complete his work at the Mets' facility. That could pose a small problem since the Port St. Lucie team left late Wednesday for a six-game road trip.

"The more I get into games, the more adjustments I'm going to make," he said. "I'm going to make the adjustments I have to make to get back to New York. I'm bored. I don't want to be here in Florida any more. I just want to get it over with. When I get out of here, I want to go to New York."